On May 12, the Alliance for Middle East Peace hosted screenings of the annual Joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Ceremony, which was hosted by two ALLMEP member organizations whose work centers around the facilitation of encounters between Israelis and Palestinians with the aim of reconciliation: Combatants for Peace and the Parents Circle – Families Forum.
The screenings sponsored by ALLMEP took place in London and Berlin, simultaneous with the live Joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Ceremony which took place in Jerusalem.
The German streaming event was held at the Green Salon of the Volksbühne, a theater in the center of Berlin. ALLMEP sponsored the event alongside our partners Bildungswerk Berlin der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, EAPPI Netzwerk Deutschland e.V., the New Israel Fund – Deutschland, and was hosted at the Volksbühne by RomaTrial e.V. The event began with an interview featuring Vered Berman, a Jewish-Israeli who lost her mother in a Hamas terror attack in 2003, and Mohammed Ibrahim, a Palestinian peace activist and trainer for conflict competence. They shared their personal reflections on the ceremony’s significance as a Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian living in Berlin, highlighting the importance of acknowledging and commemorating victims of terror, oppression, and war on both sides amidst today’s polarized German discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Vered is currently setting up the German chapter of the Parent Circle – Families Forum. The event was accompanied by the music of the pianist and composer Michael Nickel on the piano.
The British streaming event was sponsored in partnership with Yachad, the New Israel Fund UK, and the Friends of the Bereaved Families Forum the UK affiliate of the Parents Circle – Families Forum. Magen Inon, an Israeli living in London whose parents were murdered by Hamas on October 7, provided opening remarks for the screening, alongside Khader Tawahina, a Palestinian doctor from Gaza, currently finishing his medical specialization in Germany, who has lost family in this war, and previous conflicts. They both spoke about how their loss has fueled their desire for peace, and for no other family to have to relive that same pain.
A screening took place in Washington, DC, at the Tifereth Israel Congregation, sponsored by the American Friends of Combatants for Peace. ALLMEP Founder Avi Meyerstein was in attendance to view a recording of the ceremony remotely a few hours after in the afternoon, as other ALLMEP colleagues watched the event in person. Similar satellite events took place in Marseille, sponsored by the Fondation Kaleidoscope, and many other cities in Europe.
Viewers of the Joint Memorial Ceremony, from the live audience in Jerusalem to Europe to the United States and beyond, heard from Yonatan Zeigen, the son of activist Vivian Silver and peacebuilder in his own right. He shared his grief, identifying it with the grief of all locked in the conflict, and urged his audience not to lose hope despite their pain. All proceeds of the worldwide screenings became donations for the peacebuilding work of these two organizations which seek to unite bereaved families from both the Israeli and the Palestinian communities. The full ceremony is available for viewing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GsxT_PXudo.
